Class Ring
by Cake1
Summary: Junior year, and the Wildcats finally get their class rings. No surprises, Troy asks Gabriella to wear his, Chad asks Taylor to wear his. So... why had Chad bought two? ONESHOT Choy, slight Chaylor and Troyella


"Can I get two rings?" Chad hushly asked Jason, slipping him a $20 bill. "And not a word to anyone!"

"Two?!"

"Two. And not a word!"

"Okay, man." Jason laughed to himself and shrugged. "That's gonna cost you $320."

"You're killing me man." Chad sighed, handing Jason a pile of money.

Jason slowly counted the money, flicking through the bundle of $20s. Chad rolled his eyes, and wondered whose bright idea it was to put Jason Cross in charge of collecting class ring orders.

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Two weeks later, Chad was staring into space, trying to block out whatever it was Miss Darbus was wittering on about. He jumped when Taylor hit his desk from his left, and he realised Miss Darbus had just started talking about class rings.

"Now students, I'm sure you'll be thrilled to know that your class rings have finally arrived. Mr Cross, will you please pass out the rings."

Great, Chad thought. Now everyone would see that he bought two rings. His life was over. He slumped down in his chair, as Jason came down the aisle to the left of him.

To his surprise, Jason put one box on his desk. Chad was just about to say something to him, taking the box in his right hand as Jason came up the aisle on his right, until Jason placed a second box on his desk.

Chad slipped the first ring into his pocket, grinning to himself as he contemplated that he may have underestimated Jason's intelligence.

"Did Jason just give you two rings?!" A half inquisitive, half suspicious Taylor asked from the desk to his left.

"No!" Chad laughed. "Just one." He smiled sweetly, scooting his desk towards hers. He took her hand, and opened the box on his desk. He took the ring out.

"Tay, will you wear my ring?"

"Of course." Taylor gushed, taking her right hand out of Chad's grip and putting her left hand in his. She wiggled her ring finger.

Chad fought off the closing of his throat, and the sweat beads forming on his head. He slipped the finger onto Taylor's left hand ring finger.

"And… will you wear mine?" Taylor asked, smiling.

"It would be my honour." Chad smiled, holding out his right hand. Taylor placed her ring on his ring finger.

Chad smiled at her, but shot a glance to the desk in front of him, and now slightly to the right. Gabriella was sat on Troy's desk, the two engaging in a similar ring-exchanging routine. He felt the first ring burning against him in his pocket.

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Chad was sulking at lunch. He'd fake a smile every time Taylor looked at him, but went straight back to sulking when she wasn't looking.

"Chad." Troy approached the table with a basketball under his arm. "Finish your lunch, man, my Dad wants us in the gym in 5."

Chad sighed, pushing his tray away. He didn't feel like finishing his lunch. He tucked his own basketball under his arm, and skulked off after Troy.

Troy led Chad into the locker room to get changed, only to find it empty of his team mates.

"Where is everybody?" Chad asked Troy, confused. Troy rolled his eyes.

"They're not coming."

Chad frowned, confused, but as Troy approached him, he started to work out what was going on.

"It was a set up, dummy." Troy smiled, slipping his arm around Chad's waist and pulling him close. "You're so dim, sometimes."

Chad opened his mouth to protest, but was silenced when Troy locked his own lips in his. Chad sighed contently, placing his hands firmly on Troy's shoulders to balance himself, his knees were increasingly weakening.

Troy broke away, grinning, Chad took a breath or two, and placed his chin on Troy's shoulder, pressing their cheeks together.

"Oh, God…" He breathed. "I missed you, Troy." He pulled his head away and looked into Troy's eyes. "I've got something for you."

Chad fumbled with his right hand, wondering where his pocket had gone. He finally found it and pulled out a box.

"I know you're wearing Gabriella's, but…" Chad drifted off, now looking at the floor.

"Chad!" Troy exclaimed, a slight whimper hidden underneath his confident tone. "Did you buy two rings?"

"Maybe." His eyes stayed down, staring at the floor, but a grin spread across his face. He looked up, and went to take Troy's hand, but then remembered he was already wearing a ring. "Uh… You're already…"

Troy smiled, and slipped Gabriella's ring off of his pinky. He held his hand out to Chad. Chad smiled, wrinkling his nose up, took the ring out of the box, and slipped it on Troy's right ring finger. Troy grinned, and wrapped his arms around Chad.

"Thank you." He whispered. He pulled away and approached his locker. "I have something for you too."

Chad had watched; Troy hadn't received two rings. He'd received one. And he'd given that one to Gabriella. He hadn't _really_ minded… he wasn't necessarily expecting it…

But still, he watched Troy rustle through his locker, and pull out a small box, Chad grinned as it was identical to the boxes of dozens of rings he'd watched Jason give out today. Troy approached Chad, and opened the box.

"I know you're wearing Taylor's…" Troy laughed. He took the ring out of the box. "I'd like you to wear mine instead. See, the rings are all the same, so Taylor will never know you're not wearing hers. Right?"

"Right." Chad grinned. He removed Taylor's ring from his finger and held out his hand.

"Wait, I'm not done."

"Oh…"

"Just don't let Taylor ever look at the ring when it's not on your finger."

"Why?"

Troy stood close next to Chad, and turned it to show where it said, 'Once a Wildcat, Always a Wildcat' around the outside of the band, just like all the other rings. Troy turned it round, and Chad could see an unfamiliar sight, of words engraved also on the inside of the band.

"'Always in my heart - I love you'. Oh my god…" Chad gasped, staring at the ring. "I can't believe you did that." Chad smiled weakly, trying to stifle his quivering lip. "Or mean that."

Troy took a deep breath, pushed the ring onto Chad's middle finger, and wrapped his arm around Chad's waist.

"I do mean it. I love you." Troy smiled, placing his chin on Chad's shoulder from behind him. Chad smiled too, looking at Troy out of the side of his eyes.

"I love you, too. This means so much to me, Troy. I'm never taking this ring off." He brought his hand up, and stroked Troy's face. The two broke apart when they heard footsteps, as the bell rang signalling the end of lunch.

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"Chad?"

"Hm?" Chad replied to Taylor, absent-mindedly fiddling with the ring on his middle finger, and smiling.

"Why'd you move your ring onto a different finger?" Taylor smiled, feeling super special that Chad was staring at the ring and smiling.

"Oh…" Chad was knocked out of his trance. "It was a little loose. So I changed fingers. Is that cool?"

"Sure." She smiled. "Don't want you to lose it."

Chad smiled, glancing over at Troy who was similarly absent-mindedly fiddling with his ring, trying to make it look like he was listening to Gabriella.

"So what should we do for spring break?" Taylor asked Chad, who wasn't really listening. "Maybe we should take a trip. A group trip?"

"A group trip? Yeah!" Chad nodded. "Let's invite Troy and Gabriella."

"Good idea! Where should we go? Would our parents let us go away? I mean, I know we're seniors next year, but…"

Chad didn't hear anymore than that. His mind slipped into a fantasy about the four of them, at the beach, Troy shirtless, the two of them sneaking off together… he unconsciously started twiddling his ring again, thoughts of Troy filling his mind more than anything else.


End file.
